Woolen Handmade Socks from Ukraine by uMountain Craft

$7,686

pledged of $1,000 goal

145

backers

Our story

The idea of creating our product was born in spring 2017 as my husband and I enjoyed our honeymoon in Carpathians. While driving our way through rocky mountains, far away from the noise of concrete jungles, we stumbled upon Galina, who had been creating absolutly charming wool crafts the whole her life.

To that point, there was no doubt - I had to introduce her handmade artwork to the world. Therefore, this is exactly how the idea for this project on Kickstarter and our brand uMountain Craft was born.

Why design matters?

We came to the conclusion to use ethnic hutsul ornament design, which had been passed from generation to generation, from grandma to granddaughter. The centuries old history of Ukraine and Carpathians is carefully embroidered into every pair of our socks.

After countless try-outs of different ornament styles and constantly experimenting with hand dyed thread colors, two designes caught our attention: dark one for men and a light one for ladies.

I was striking for this feeling of warm coziness and Carpathian spirit every pair was meant to give. Additionally, I realised, everybody would enjoy having outstanding and exclusive thing created exactly for them.

So, the tracery of every pair of our socks is going to be as peculiar and individual as every human being is.

I am absolutely confident that you will not be able to find any alternatives of our product on local markets, not to say about mass-production stores.

Why wool?

There is no doubt, sheep wool was one of the first materials people learned to use in order to get benefits for themselves. And only during the process of creating our product we realized how unique it really was!

Only imagine, even sheep up in the 2000 meter high mountains are not afraid of freezing cold and fierce winds and in summer their bodies keep warmth balance. The key is in specific feature of this material which has been used by people since the time immemorial: real wool has a fascinating ability not soak in the humidity but simply evaporate it. That's why you will feel incredible comfort.

Products made of real wool (the only type of wool we approve) are hypoallergenic and therefore they don't irritate skin or cause allergies. Moreover, they are advised to people struggle with asthma. Natural wool has analgesic, antibacterial and anti-inflammatory qualities.

It is important to mention that wool also consists particles which prevent wool ware from staining during the long-lasting wearing.

By the way, shearing does not give the animals any discomfort, but on the contrary, it helps them to endure the summer heat more easily. So you can be totally sure, that while making socks no sheep was harmed .

You can wear our socks whenever you want: when at home in winter in order to warm up, to the bed while you're getting over the cold, in summer instead of slippers, simply use them as a warm alternative to everyday socks or even hide Christmas present for your children inside! It doesn't depend on the season - in rough winter or extremely hot summer, all year long you will get real joy wearing uMountain Socks.

How is it made?

As we were preparing our product we faced the problem we couldn't even think of.

The process of shearing, weaving threads, painting yarns and further knitting indeed looks incredible in the 21st century, but the creation of each pair does take a lot of time.

Galina making a thread

Wool here is obtained in a natural way - by shearing sheep in the summer and later processing the wool in a natural thread by the autumn, so, you can enjoy your warm socks in winter frosts.

Over the summer, we gathered a sufficient amount of wool. Therefore, everybody could get their hands on our product (created of up to the last villi).

Every meter of the thread, every carefully made knot, every final product is not just a fancy piece of clothing, it is painstakingly performed process which requires Galina a lot of time and efforts. However, needless to say, in order to get the highest quality, it should only be made by hand.

During the process of creation of these socks we use the same time proved by hundreds of years techniques without any machines or any equipment being involved.

Today, all Galina's family has joined the process of creation of these wool socks. Now, all we need in order to start is your help.

What size?

There are two kinds of socks available: light colored for women and dark colored for men.

uMountain socks come in three sizes:

After the project has finished you can pick any adult size you want, but the delivery times might be slightly different.

I am completely sure, everybody loves unique things. That's why all the socks have common design, which matches the product that you can find in this project, but with that the color of ornament of each pair of socks will be unique and special.

Children sizes of socks are not available for separate order at the moment, but you can get them by purchasing Family Pack. Also, you'll be able to order any size of children socks after the project is finished.

What's the deal?

What are the terms of shipping?

As we have just said each pair of socks is totally hand-made. We will be creating new rewards postponing the delivery deadline being oriented on our manufacturing opportunities as orders increase. Thats why you can be sure of delivery terms that you can see before you bid.

Why do we need your support?

We have devoted a lot of time to creating this product, but it's truly worth it!

In summer we already saved enough materials for everyone to get their hands on a warm and fluffy unique pair. Now, we need financial resources to cover Galina's and her family work for preparing wool, making and dying threads and actual creation of socks.

As you support our project, bare in mind that you not only purchase a high quality handmade ware but also help Galina's family who has spent their lives performing manual labor and stayed faithful to the ethnic traditions.

Moreover funds will be spent on assembling, packaging (trust me, it looks awesome!), and shipping to You.

Pledge US$ 7,000 or more
About $7,000

Experience Ukraine

7 day travel with me to Ukraine for two persons including both ways tickets from US or any European country, all trip expanses, accommodation and breakfast. Of course lots of woolen masterpieces (not only socks) from Galina’s hands are included too.

You’ll see and experience (we can make any corrections in this list as you wish):
- visiting Lviv and sights;
- Carpathian Mountains (Bukovel, Dragobrat) where you can ski if your journey is in winter month;
- 2 feasts for all the Hutsul tradition and national Ukrainian dishes:
- meeting Galina and wool workshops;
- foot climb to the highest point of Ukraine (2061 meters hight) - Hoverla (if you wish);
- bathing in the famous Carpathian vats.